A few days ago we had again a great tour. Together with a family from Pakistan we sailed up to Kilim River. After they had left us, Gerd and I stayed there overnight as we knew we had a tour back the next day. Ian and his wife Tess with their daughter living at present in KL, booked DADDELDU because some of his friends had joined a tour with us last year and had told him not to miss out to go on an island hopping or sunset cruise with us.
He, his wife, their daughter and a visiting couple with son from the UK came by taxi to Kilim River and I picked them up with a longboat. As it was just about 10 a.m. we did the regular tour to the bat cave, the eagle feeding and the mangrove tour. At about noon we boarded DADDELDU and took off to our hidden lagoon. After just half an hour sailing we dropped anchor and went for a swim. Our crew started to prepare lunch and I took the boy and the girl for a dinghy ride. As we have a 15 HP engine on our rubber dinghy we can plane on the water as long as the boat is not too heavily loaded. Everyone is impressed by the speed of that little boat and it is big fun to run around the little islands with it! Well, I showed them a small cave where no tourists normally go. As it was low tide we could drive into it by dinghy and it was just nice to see how much it impressed the kids. Next we drove to one of my favorite islands. Coming closer you can see how the trees grow out of the rocks without any soil. Luckily both kids had a sensitivity for seeing this kind of untouched and unique nature. I switched off the engine and we were completely silent for a while. The benefit came straight away as we saw a very colorful bird that even I had not seen before. The parents were swimming to the beach where we finally all came together again.
But I knew the beach would be dirty so I had already planned to clean it up a little bit and carried some big plastic bags. I was delighted to see that all of my guests started to help me and within 10 minutes we had an impressive amount of garbage. Let alone the flip flops we found were about 30! Especially after spring tide twice a month all beaches are swept over by garbage that comes up from the Strait of Malacca. Well, after we had done our work, we refreshed ourselves with a little swim. I had taken some drinks from the boat and we sat in the warm water chatting away when a little nasty fish came and bit me. Nothing to worry and no mark left on my leg, but I was not amused.
Coming back we experienced a short thunderstorm with a lot of downpour. What a relieve that our guests had fun even driving back in the rain. It didn’t bother them the least as the rain was warm. We had a delicious meal and a couple of drinks together on the aft deck. By now our crew is such a good team that I feel like a guest myself.
After an afternoon downpour normally the sunset is even more stunning. And so it was this day. Our guests left late and Tess, the mother of the kids told me that she envied us for our lifestyle so much that for the first time in her life she started thinking about buying a sailing yacht herself. Again, we had a fabulous day and made friendship with people we had not known the day before.